This invention relates to cellular systems and, more particularly, to dynamic association of pricing with service that is provided at a given Quality-of-Service (QoS) level.
Current cellular systems (IS-136, IS-95, GSM and AMPS) have a limited form of differential billing that is based on space and time variations. That is, a different billing rate applies as a mobile terminal roams from cells served by its home area to cells outside its home area. Also, a different billing rate is applied based on time of day, with a higher rate being charged at peak-hour time.
I have recognized that these circumstances are not, however, the only circumstances where different billing rates would benefit both the user and the provider.
For example, capacity utilization can vary greatly for cells within the same Mobile Switching Center (MSC). Therefore, as a mobile unit moves from one cell to another, the resource utilization by the cell into which the mobile unit enters may differ greatly from the resource utilization of the cell from which the mobile unit exits. If the mobile unit was using a large amount of bandwidth in a low utilization cell, its entrance into a high utilization cell can lead to a substantially increased probability of call blocking in the arrived cell. This represents a circumstance where differential billing might be desirable.
Also, capacity within the cell varies over time. Consequently, a mobile unit that employs a high-bandwidth connection during a low cell utilization period might represent a greater burden to the cell during a high cell utilization period because the probability of blocked calls increases as the utilization increases. This also represents a circumstance where differential billing might be desirable.
The difference between the circumstances where different billing rates are currently applied and the above-mentioned circumstances where different billing rates might be desirable is that the latter circumstances are sensitive to actual real time traffic levels.
There is presently no mechanism in the signaling protocol between the base stations (BS) and the mobile units (MS) that allows pricing negotiations. Yet, enhanced system operation for both the provider and the customer can be gained by providing an appropriate protocol and by engaging in dynamic price setting.
Enhanced system operation is realized with a method, and apparatus for carrying out the method, which negotiates with the customer a Quality-of-Service level that the customer gets in a connection and the price the customer agrees to pay therefor. The negotiation may be repeated one or more times throughout the period that the connection exists. The rate and paid by the customer or the QoS provided to the customer change as a result of the negotiation. While from the customer""s perspective the negotiation relates to the combination of QoS level and price, from the service provider""s perspective the promise of a QoS is but a mechanism for controlling network load and, in the process, perhaps maximizing profit. One embodiment of the invention, for example, in a cellular environment, the QoS may be negotiated when a customer""s mobile unit initiates a call, at regular intervals during the call, when changes in traffic conditions call for a renegotiation, and when the mobile unit is handed off from one cell to another cell. To prepare for its end of the negotiations, the service provider collects information concerning the level at which its resources are being utilized and determines its ability to guarantee a particular QoS level. This information is continuously updated and combined with historical data to calculate price data.